Textile beam driving apparatus having expandable gudgeons



Oct. 15, 1968 c, A M ET AL 3,405,538

TEXTILE BEAM DRIVING APPARATUS HAVING EXPANDABLE GUDGEONS Filed March 29, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 4 INVENTORS. Charles B. Gmhamjr.

AT TOR NE Y5.

TIC-3L1 Oct. 15, 1968 c, B, GRAHAM ET AL 3,405,538

TEXTILE BEAM DRIVING APPARATUS HAVING EXPANDABLE GUDGEONS Filed March 29, 1966 V 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 N VENTORS.

CharleS B. Grahamj". Robert A. Mutter MM @MQ A TTOR NE )6 unnnmiiiil Oct. 15, 1968 c. B. GRAHAM ET AL 3,405,538

TEXTILE BEAM DRIVING APPARATUS HAVING EXPANDABLE GUDGEONS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 29, 1966 INVENTORS. Charles B Gmhamjr. BY ROEQTJE A. Mutter (PM @cwl ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3 405,538 TEXTILE BEAM DRIT ING APPARATUS HAVING EXPANDABLE GUDGEONS Charles B. Graham and Robert A. Mutter, Monroe, N.C., assignors to Cocker Machine & Foundry Company, Gastonia, N.C., a corporation of North Carolina Filed Mar. 29, 1966, Ser. No. 538,394 3 Claims. (Cl. 64-5) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An automatically operated gudgeon arrangement capable of entering into driving engagement with a warp beam which is characterized in that it produces a substantially perfectly concentric and smooth running condition and in that it can be readily disconnected after the beaming operation has been completed.

This invention relates to an apparatus for rotating beams, such apparatus having expandable beam gudgeons, and further relates to a driving gudgeon which is useful in the textile warping and beaming industry, for example, for driving textile beams in rotation.

Many modern textile beaming operations include mechanized or automated steps wherein, to effect driving engagement with the beam, the driving gudgeons are caused to enter into a generally cylindrical bore at the center axis of the beam. Desirably, the gudgeons engage the beam exactly centrally in order to transmit non-vibratory rotational movement of the gudgeon into rotation of the beam. Particularly in view of the relatively high speeds that are involved, it is highly desirable to produce a substantially perfect concentric running condition of the beam.

At the completion of the beaming operation, the rotation of the beam is usually stopped by means of a beam brake or the like, and the driving connection between the gudgeon and the beam is desirably automatically disconnected.

An object of this invention is to provide a smoothworking and automatic-ally operating gudgeon arrangement having capacity to enter into automatic driving engagement with the beam and which is characterized by its ability to produce a substantially perfectly concentric running condition when so engaged. Another object is to provide such an arrangement which can readily be disconnected after the beaming operation has been completed. Other objects and advantages of this invention, including the versatility and adaptability of the same to a wide variety of uses, will further become apparent hereinafter and in the drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is 'a view greatly enlarged showing a beam with gudgeons constructed in accordance with this invention inserted into both of the beam ends. The great majority of the central portion of the beam has been removed and the beam is shown broken away for that reason.

FIG. 2 represents an end view of the beam gudgeon appearing at the left hand in FIG. 1, with certain parts broken away in order more particularly to reveal important details.

FIG. 3 represents an end view of the driving gudgeon appearing at the right hand of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 represents an exploded view in perspective showing the components of which the left hand beam gudgeon is formed.

FIG. 5 represents a similar view in perspective showing the components of which the right hand beam gudgeon is formed.

In the portions of the specification which follow, specific terms have been used for the purpose of clarity. It will be expressly understood that these specific terms are not intended to limit the scope of the invention, but are intended to apply descriptively to the specific form of the invention selected for illustration in the drawings.

Turning now to FIGS. 4 and 5 of the drawings, the number 10 designates a supporting shaft having a flange 11 comprising the basic supporting means for one end 12 of the textile beam. It will be appreciated that the end of the textile beam has been shown displaced at an angle of in FIG. 4, as indicated by the dot-dash line appearing at the right hand of FIG. 4, for convenience of illustration. The expandable beam gudgeon illustrated in FIG. 4 comprises an adaptor plate 13 having a generally cylindrical flange 14 provided with diametrically opposed notches 15 and having tapped holes 16 and a central opening 17 of larger diameter than the shaft portion 10.

A separate back-up ring 20 is provided, having a cylindrical extension 21 arranged to fit within the opening 17. The back-up ring 20 is provided with circumfe-rentially spaced, radially extending ribs 23. Back-up ring 20 also has two diametrically opposed keys 24 of such size that they fit loosely within the notches 15 in the back-up ring 13. Another cylindrical extension 25 having three drill holes 26 is formed integrally with the back-up ring 20,

Arranged to fit over the cylindrical extension 25, and to slide back and forth thereon, is a compressor ring 30. The number 31 designates a plurality of generally pieshaped expansion sections which consist of an expandable material such as rubber or the like. In use, these are inserted into the similarly shaped spaces between the back-up ring 20 and the compressor ring 30. Each of the sections 31 is secured to the back-up ring 20 so that each occupies a separate space formed by adjacent ribs 23.

Another separate member in the gudgeon is the guide plate 32 which has a central opening and three other openings for purposes of assembly as will be detailed further hereinafter. The guide 32 has a chamfered portion 33 around its peripheral edge.

Turning to FIG. 5, the construction of the gudgeon at the opposite or right hand end 40 of the beam will now be apparent. Again in FIG. 5 it will be appreciated that the position of the beam has been shown rotated 90 as indicated by the dot-dash line at the left of FIG. 5, for convenience of illustration. The number 41 designates an adaptor plate which is adapted to be connected to a driving spindle. As will be further explained, this spindle is connected to a source of power (not shown) to be driven in rotation but is restrained so that it cannot shift axially to any appreciable extent. A cylindrical extension 42 extends in one direction through the central opening in the adaptor plate 41 and, in the other direction, extends away from the drive and has a back-up plate 44 carrying a multiplicity of ribs 43 providing generally pieshaped spaces for expansion sections 45 which are similar to those already described in connection with FIG. 4. The number 46 designates a split compressor ring otherwise similar to compressor ring 30 and the number 47 designates a split guide plate otherwise similar to guide 32. Both ring 46 and guide 47 are split to accommodate a key 50 which is secured to the adaptor plate 41 and which is chamfered at 51 for easy insertion into and withdrawal from 'keyways 52 formed in the right hand end 40" of the beam.

The left and right hand gudgeons just described appear in assembled condition and in further detail in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings. It will be appreciated that the number 58 designates the physical structure of the beam carrying the yarn 59 as shown in FIG. 1, but it will be understood that this invention is fully applicable to beams whether full or empty.

Referring first specifically to the left hand portion of FIG. 1, it will be appreciated that the shaft 53 for the left hand gudgeon is not driven in rotation but is actuated by any suitable mechanical means (not shown) for axial movement back and fourth toward and away from the beam. The supporting shaft and the supporting shaft flange 11 are rigidly formed with and move both axially and in rotation in unison with the actuating shaft 53. The cylindrical extensions 21 and which are formed integrally with the back-up ring 20 are fitted snugly over the supporting shaft 10 and secured in position by machine screws 54 which are threaded into the supporting shaft flange 11, the heads of which screws are embedded in the guide plate 32, thus securing the guide plate 32 rigidly against the end of the cylindrical extension 25. Adaptor plate 13 fits over the cylindrical extension 21 with its notches 15, 15 loosely receiving the keys 24, 24 formed integrally with the back-up ring 20. The compressor ring is axially slidably fitted over the surface of the cylindrical extension 25 and is secured to the adaptor plate 13 by machine screws 55 threadedly engaged in the adaptor plate 13 and having their heads recessed in compressor ring 30. Each of the (rubber) expansion sections 31 is located in its proper space between the backup ring 20 and the compressor ring 30, and between the spaced-apart ribs 23. It will be appreciated that the expansion sections 31 are made of a material such as rubber or the like which is expandable in a radial direction when subjected to axial pressure. The machine screws 55 are subjected to only enough torque to secure the respective parts together, without applying sufficient axial pressure to cause the expansion sections to expand to a diameter much greater than their normal unstressed diameter, which is somewhat less than the inside diameter at the end of the beam. Thus, no difiiculty is encountered in inserting the budgeon into the open end of the beam.

Referring to the right hand portion of FIG. 1, the construction of the right hand gudgeon is similar to that just described in connection with the left hand portion, except that a spindle '60 is provided which is formed integrally with a flange 61 connected to drive shaft 62 which in turn is connected to a drive means, not shown, having capacity to drive the members 60, 61, 6 2 in rotation together but having substantially no capacity for axial movement. Screws 63 secure the split guide 47 and the back-up plate 44 to the flange 61, and other screws 64 secure the compressor rings 46 through the expansion sections 45 and back-up plate 44 to the adaptor ring 41. It will be observed that the adaptor ring 41 has a flange 65 which extends radially outwardly of the back-up plate 44 and is located at a position to contact and press against the end of the beam, thereby acting as a stop means on advancement of the driving member into the beam.

The key 50 is secured to shaft 60 by means of screws 67 (FIG. 3).

In operation, the right hand end of the beam is placed over the right hand spindle which is connected to the drive spindle 60, and is held in proper axial position for the entry of the left hand spindle into the left hand end of the beam. The left hand spindle is mechanically inserted axially into the left hand end of the beam, and the ends of the keys 24 contact the corresponding ends of the keyways in the beam, pushing the beam toward the right with considerable pressure. Thus, pressure is transmitted through the beam to the flange 65 of adaptor ring 41 and is transmitted through the screws 64 causing the split compressor ring 46 to shift to the right, applying axial squeezing force on the expansion sections and causing them to expand radially to assume a curved configuration of the type appearing in FIG. 1, expanding against the inner periphery at the end of the beam and centering the beam precisely with respect to the right hand gudgeon.

Similarly, the axial force exerted by the flange 11 toward the right creates a reactive force toward the left in the cylindrical flange 14, urging adaptor ring 13,screws 55 and compressor ring 30 toward the left. This applies a similar axial pressure to the expansion sections 31, causing them to undergo a radial expansion which centers the left hand end of the beam with extreme accuracy with respect to the spindle.

It will be obvious that, at the time the beam is placed over the right hand spindle, care is taken to engage the key 50 within. the keyways 52in order to establish a driving connection between the right hand spindle and the beam. I I 1 It will further be appreciated that pressure is applied to the spindle either hydraulically or pneumatically. It is applied to the spindle, maintained on the spindle, and the spindle is withdrawn from the beam independent of the rotational drive to the beam. .It would be detrimental to the wvarp if pressure were released every time the rotational drive stopped.

However, in most applications, interlocks are used so as to be assured that pressure is applied to the spindle before the rotational drive may be actuated. The spindle is withdrawn after rotation is stopped to remove the filled beam. 7

It will be appreciated that the expansion sections could in some cases be replaced by one continuous ring, or by a split ring, but it has been discovered that it is highly preferable to provide a multiplicity of separate sections for the expansion portion of the apparatus because far more accurate centering is achieved. It will be appreciated that it is inherently desirable to use a soft or low density material in the expander ring, so that excessive pressures are not required on the spindle to displace the material radially to grip the beam. In view of the weight of the beam, a continuous ring when loaded with a beam in one direction has been found not to displace equally in all directions with the result that the beam remains somewhat in an eccentric condition relative to the center of the spindle. This is because, for ease in entering the chuck, the diameter must be somewhat smaller than the bore of the beam. The individual compartments, radially spaced around each of the chucks, with soft displaceable material cut or sized to fit each compartment, admirably overcome the eccentricity problem because when pressure is applied, there is no space permitted for this material to displace other than in a radial direction, each in an equal amount for a given loading along the axis of the unit.

Although this invention has been shown and described with reference to a specific embodiment thereof, it will be appreciated that various other modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. For example, equivalent elements may be substituted for those specifically referred to, parts may be reversed, and certain features may be used independently of other features, as will be understood.

The following is claimed:

1. An automatically expandable textile beam-engaging gudgeon constructed to enter into and to engage the inner surface of a generally cylindrical opening in a textile beam, the combination comprising a rotatable driving member having a radially outwardly extending flange arranged beyond the end of said beam,

a beam-engaging portion of lesser diameter than said opening in said beam and protruding from said driving member to enter said opening,

stop means movably mounted on said driving member with capacity for movement back and forth generally axially thereon, said stop means being arranged to contact the beam end when said beam-engaging portion is advanced into said opening,

yieldable means extending peripherally around said beam-engaging portion and located within said opening when said stop means is against said beam end,

and compressing means spaced axially from said flange and connected to said stop means, said yieldable means being disposed in the space between said compressing means and said flange, said stop means, upon advancement of said beam engaging portion into said opening, moving said compressing means toward said flange to compress said yieldable means generally axially thereby causing it to expand generally radially to form a tight seal with the inner surface of said opening in said beam.

2. The gudgeon defined in claim 1 wherein the yieldable means is composed of a plurality of spaced apart segments, and said compressing means is connected to each of said segments.

3. The gudgeon defined in claim 1 wherein a driving key is secured to said rotatable driving member, and a corresponding keyway is formed in said beam.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS HALL C. COE, Primary Examiner. 

